The Holly Springs United soccer team is disbanding after playing soccer together for over seven years.

The team has played over 8,300 minutes of soccer, but it was the last five minutes of the team’s final game that gave United its first major tournament championship. United came from behind to beat the South Iredell Heat 3-2 in the gold medal game of the State Games of North Carolina at Barry Park in Huntersville.

United struck first in the gold medal game when Nicholas McCullers teamed up with Raphael Kim, who arced the ball over the Heat keeper for a 1-0 United lead. Kim and McCullers teamed up for four goals in the tournament, but the lead was short lived, as the Heat, which has been tearing through tournaments all spring, raced downfield to drill the equalizer less than a minute after Kim’s goal. The teams went into half tied at one.

The second half proved exciting in the 97 degree heat. Both teams were able to generate scoring chances. The Heat had several shots that couldn’t get past United goalie Abdul Elmorsi, who the United players voted Man of the Match. With 10 minutes left United had a defensive breakdown, turning the ball over just outside the 18-yard box. The Heat player drilled a shot that Elmorsi dove for to block, but there was no United defender anywhere near the ball and a Heat player put it in the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.

The lead held until just over five minutes left to play when Declan Hoffman sent the ball on net and United forwards George Bournazian and Derrick Johnson ran it down into the back of the net to pull United level.

Both teams played at top speed with overtime looming. The United defensive midfield of Colin Attarian, who played all 60 minutes of the championship, Stephen Pratt, Chris Brown and Jake Powell thwarted the Heat attack and, with two minutes to go, long-time midfielder Ethan Sheflin sent the ball to Johnson, who turned, drilled the ball to the back of the net, dropped down on a knee and was mobbed by teammates.

To get to the gold medal match, United had to play some strong competition, starting with the Mint Hill Maniacs, which finished second in the Union County Soccer League in the spring. United used goal scoring from Derrick Johnson, Stephen Pratt, George Bournazian, Elmorsi and McCullers for an 8-4 win.

United faced an all-star team in the Charlotte Soccer Academy and dispatched them 3-1 behind goals from Kim, Johnson and Bournazian. In the semi-final match United faced the Mebane Phoenix, champions from the Mebane Youth Soccer Association, and, powered by goals from Bournazian, McCullers, Brock Waters, and Johnson, advanced with a 5-0 victory.

The gold medal is United’s first major tournament championship and it comes in the team’s final game.

All-time, United is 118-60-17 over the last seven years. Along the way, the team has won league championships in each of the age groups that it has played in, but had never won a regional tournament championship. United played as members of the Holly Springs Parks and Recreation Department, the Triangle Y Soccer Club and Holly Springs Futbol Club over the last seven years. .